The reinforcing power of nature! With @alexpixels.media / "The first time I held a camera in my hands, I was 8 years old. I remember when my mom gave me one of the first disposable @kodak for the school trip. Of course, I could not even take a photograph of the castle that we visited that day... I finished the whole film roll on the bus! From that age on, I also started to take part in the adventures of my parents in the mountains. I remember that my father gave me a camera that was also a video camera; I enjoyed filming and telling about all the excursions in every little detail. My passion for photography grew over the years and I have been working in the photographic world since 2012 for a company in Bergamo. I work as a content creator and it often happens that I travel for it. The best business trip I took was in 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. I went there for a convention on the world of drones, "@interdroneexpo 2018". After the hours of the convention I visited the city and I remember perfectly the moment when I climbed the @stratvegas, a hotel about 350m high. On the panoramic terrace I saw the whole city at sunset and the pristine desert far beyond. At that precise moment I realized that I have the best job in the world. Ever since I have been going outdoors to shoot, I believe this is a perfect way of learning and growing. My last adventure was to leave with my father in the middle of the night for the Dolomites, after 400 km we reached the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to enjoy the sunrise. An incredible emotion. This trip together reinforced the indestructible bond we already had. For once, I was able to teach my father something and it is a great satisfaction because he always taught me everything. In my opinion, adventure is the answer to the question: "Are we living life or is it life that lives us?" Every time I have to plan the next excursion, the next trip, I am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and this makes me feel alive. I have no idea what the future will bring... I only know that I want to improve every day and live a life that is worth living!" 🤗 You can now read @alexpixels.media original story visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

"The challenge, but also the beautiful thing about landscape photography, is that you will always be surprised!" With @florian_fechter / "Landscape photography made me a stronger person. It helped me to go beyond my comfort zone and beyond my limits, whether it is the limit of my gear or my personal limits. I believe that doing this is important to keep growing because by challenging your limits, you gain much more knowledge in what to do in different situations. This will then reflect in your photography skills. For example, I try to experiment with different gear; especially prime lenses force you to get creative since you are limited to one particular focal length. This all will affect my editing, because the less postprocessing I need, the better was my photography. So I always strive for a natural look while reflecting the mood and feelings I had when shooting. After all, I prefer editing as little as possible since nature is already beautiful itself. And photography made me realize that it's crucial to protect this beauty. When I was first standing on a glacier in Austria, I was really shocked how fast they melt. In summer the crevasses are flooded with streams of melting water and they lose tons of ice every year. Some peaks are getting harder and harder to climb since the rocks lose their stability when the permafrost soil melts. Maybe it’s necessary that everyone sees this happening with their own eyes to make them change their attitude towards how to treat the Earth. Or maybe it's necessary that everyone goes outside in the first place, to realize the importance of nature in general and learn and feel how it contributes to our health. Personally, I can say that it's essential for me to spend time in nature besides studying and working. Mountains became something like a safe haven for me. Reaching the summit and enjoying this breathtaking view is a feeling that can’t be described. Being exhausted, tired and sweaty after a hard hike really makes me forget about all worries and problems... Being outdoors keeps my mind sane and this is priceless to me!" You can read @florian_fechter original story visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

The Faroe Islands - At the very Heart of Global Climate! With @mikebishop.tv / The first known settlers in the Faroe Islands were Irish monks, who in the 6th century AD told of the “Islands of the Sheep and the Paradise of Birds”. Though today, we know the islands as Faroe Islands (Føroyar) - the name given to these islands by the Viking age settlers arriving from Norway in the 9th century. It derives from old Norse and can be translated as ‘Sheep Islands’. However, the Faroese refer to their country as “the land of maybe” because of its extreme and often unpredictable weather changes. That’s not surprising knowing that the Faroes are the heart of the global climate, the place where vast amounts of warm Gulf Stream surface water heading northeast, and deeper down the icy cold stream of Arctic water heading the opposite way. The weather has always had a central role in the lives of the people of the Faroes and has had a profound effect on Faroese identity and deference to nature. As a result, they have developed intimate knowledge about the sea and windy weather. Actually, the currents around the Faroes have been extensively researched, and the islands are receiving a lot of attention from foreign investors. There is a huge potential in the Faroe Islands for clean and self-sufficient energy production that can contribute to how to address the global challenge of climate change, though Faroe Islands are already leader in increasing fuel efficiency at sea and minimizing the impacts of fisheries on the marine ecosystem. The challenge is now to find new ways to tap into the powerhouse of the North Atlantic Ocean in ways that can also benefit other nations and communities around the world. By utilizing rain water and wind the Faroe Islands already produce more than 50% of their electricity from these renewable sources, and the goal is to reach a 100% green energy production by 2030. The Irish monks and Norse settlers probably had no idea that the brute weather conditions, even causing tragedies, would play such an important role in the rescue of the Earth nowadays! Special greetings to @mikebishop.tv for sharing this wonderful video with us! @visitfaroeislands @nomadict

New Interview! Starring, @merrwatson / Merr is an aerial photographer born in the Philippines, based in Perth, Australia. She has always loved being creative and while growing up she was either active with playing music, filming and editing videos or photographing anything that was around her. She lives for experiences and connections, and having lived in a country that struggles with extreme poverty, she is inspired by the Filipinos - smiling and enjoying little things despite their circumstances, to live her life feeling extremely grateful for everything. She got a Nikon D90 when she was 18 years old. Being amazed by new perspectives and inspired by photographers such as Salty Wings, Warren Camitan and Jordan Hammond, she lost herself into the world of photography. Five years ago, she got caught by aerial photography: “Being able to put a camera in a place I physically can’t get to, to capture something so incredibly magical, is what blows me away with the art of aerial photography.” Merr has found the niche that she truly enjoys, and also feels she’s kind of good at. She has been learning about drone photography and her art shows the hard work is paying off! So far she has worked for @djiglobal, @indtravel or @seychellestourismboard among many other brands...So we are super happy for this interview because Merr shared some great advices about aerial photography and what is important to keep in mind when working with businesses. Are you also curious about her editing style? After shooting, Merr knows very well how to edit her shots and what she wants to achieve: “Most of my work consists of a lot of vibrant rich colours with a clean dreamy look to it.” She allows us to take a peek in the way she edits her shots, using an example of a beautiful shot from the coast, explaining the steps she took. “...I would then use the brush and gradient tools to edit certain elements to the shot such as making the water more vibrant and aqua, the rocks more smooth and saturated, and to smooth out the sand….” Do you want to know what steps come before and after? Visit the link in the bio to read @merrwatson's full interview! @nomadict

Highlights 2019 - Interview with @yann__b - Brought to you via nomadict.org / @nomadict: The 27th of February we had the pleasure to share an interview with Yann Bervas. Ever since, he has been doing what he enjoys the most: "Meeting people and living a life full of true moments." Reading his interview again has been pretty satisfying, even relaxing. It is great to see how many of you find happiness by keeping your life simple. To convey simplicity with words and photographs is pretty hard if you think about it. This is why Yann's interview is one our highlight of 2019! The following was one of our favorite parts of the interview: @yann__b: I spent nearly the last three months living on the road. And it has definitely changed my perspective and lifestyle. I wanted to put myself out of my comfort zone. Being active and in the outdoors is a very important part of my life. I had the chance of growing up close to the beach, started to surf around 12 years old, but could often escape to the mountains. The southwest of France was just the perfect place to live. When I started to travel as a freelance photographer, I realized how the world could be a great playground to explore. I made the decision to move into a van full time. And if you live in a 7.5 square meter box, you’ll quickly discover that you can only keep what you absolutely need, as your favorite clothes, some hiking gear, and your camera. So I traded my TV for what I could see through the window of my car. Everyday has a new scene to offer, and I have to say it was a good trade! @nomadict: You can find the interview with @yann__b visiting the link in the bio! - This Highlight has been brought to you via nomadict.org! 🤗

"It’s the traveling part that teaches you so much about the world and about yourself!" With @wanna_lala / "My parents are both originally from Poland. Being so, after being born I was whisked away to Poland to meet the family. They are artists and for work they traveled to art shows around the country. We would travel everywhere by car: I remember being in a car for 11 hours straight driving from Salt Lake City to Sun Valley Idaho staring at the desert of molten rock and munching down on some jerky from the last gas station. Travel was always in my life from the beginning and since my father was a fashion photographer in the early '80s in NYC, cameras have always been around me. My mom gave me the nickname Lala when I was little, being that I was always in Lala land, dreaming of something. When I picked up the camera, it became easier to dream. I am a visual learner and dreamer, and now with a camera in hand, I can share the dreams which I wouldn’t be able to express otherwise. Photography introduced me to people and took me places I could have never imagined 5 years ago. At some point I quit my job in NYC and set out for a 2-month adventure through South America, which frankly wasn't enough because it's filled with so much beauty and culture! I already got interested in taking portrait photos when I was in Cuba some time before; I saw a story to be told, about the people. I photographed them daily and felt that I found meaning in these photos. Then, once I stepped into Bolivia I became fascinated with the Andean people and their culture. Further down the road in Peru, walking in one of the sacred sights around Cusco, I saw a woman sitting there, peacefully looking at us. Her name is Paulina, 93 years old and coming from a local village. Out of all the photos I shot in South America I knew, this was the shot, this is what I was searching for; you can read a life story in these eyes - see pic 7. I love photography and the editing process, but when I am traveling, I try to be there. It’s the traveling part that teaches you so much about the world and about yourself! You can read @wanna_lala original story visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

"As much as I want to explore the rest of the world, Scotland will always be special." With @johnspate / "I owe a lot to my parents for developing and nurturing my passion for photography and travel. Both were keen amateur photographers and my first memories of taking photographs were of stealing their cameras at family events to take pictures of everything and anything I could find. Since then, they have always been supportive of my work and help me in any way they can. They also helped me to go on my first big trip to Peru, when I was still at school. This really ignited my passion for travel and desire to explore the world more. After my mum passed away over the summer, I found some photos on an old SD card she had taken on a trip with friends in Scotland. While looking through all these photos, my appreciation for the photographer she was, grew with every photograph. I like to think that some of her talent got stuck on me and that I am just continuing her work. For a long time, I felt like I struggled to know what I enjoyed and wanted to do with my life. Photography has helped me rediscover my passion for the outdoors and travel. It got me outside to enjoy life when I might have instead wasted a day watching tv. Photography has opened up so many doors for me and introduced me to some incredible people who I now can call friends. More than anything, photography helps me feel close to my mom and it is something I will always be grateful for. Looking to the future, there is so much more of Scotland that I would love to explore, especially in the Highlands and Islands. The good thing is though, with all my family still in Scotland, I have plenty of opportunities to visit, explore and photograph. Without a doubt, this has played a huge role in my photography and it’s certainly where my most popular content has come from. In fact some of my top photos (from both a personal view and also popularity) have come from places less than an hour from where I grew up, near Glasgow. As much as I want to explore the rest of the world, Scotland will always be special." You can read @johnspate original story visiting the link in the bio! 😊✌ @nomadict

Hiking along the Alpe-Adria-Trail in Carinthia, Austria! With @kempslife_ -  Winner Best of the Week 47 at #nomadict / “Carinthia is a southern Austrian region characterized by alpine lakes and mountains. Actually, more than 200 lakes can be found along its perfect slopes and hiking trails, as well as medieval buildings such as Hochosterwitz Castle - considered one of Austria’s most impressive castles. Carinthia, by the way, seats in the eastern Alps that encompasses Austria’s highest mountain, Grossglockner. It is from the majestic Grossglockner where you can start a trail that is about 466 miles (750km) in length and leads from Austria’s highest peak (at 12,460 ft or 3,798m altitude), to the azure blue Adriatic Sea. The Alpe-Adria-Trail is divided in 43 stages and each of them are around 12 miles (20km) long and take about 6 hours to walk. The stages are consistently signposted, they lead along a defined route and offer at least one attractive culinary offering. Most importantly, each stage ends in a place with suitable overnight accommodation options. So it is a challenging trail, but having a good sleep after a successful hike is almost guaranteed. Can you also hike the Alpe-Adria-Trail in the opposite direction, from the sea to the glacier? Yes, of course! However, more than 95% of all Alpe-Adria-Trail walkers prefer the direction from the glacier to the sea. Regardless of the direction you choose, for many hikers this is one of the most rewarding trails in Europe: Having the chance to enjoy an incredibly diverse set of views located though some of the most alluring and culturally vibrant regions of #austria, #slovenia and #italy sounds certainly good! Am I right? 🤠😊 Congratulations @kempslife_! Now you have access to the final prize, $500 in cash! @nomadict: By the way guys! 2020 is almost there, you have 4 more weeks/chances to win our weekly contest and enter the final poll for Nomadict Best of the Year 2019! We have big news about the prize for the winner and finalists, so stay tuned! 🤗

The benefits of Slow Travel! With @ghislain_fave / "I still remember rainy afternoons at my grandparents’ house, watching slide projections of pictures of their trips to Patagonia or Namibia. Now there are hundreds of pictures of these regions uploaded everyday, but this was 25 years ago, before social media and mass tourism. I grew up with little contact with nature and I kept dreaming about those remote places I had seen on the photos. So when I had the opportunity to study abroad, I jumped on the adventure; I chose Brazil. It was supposed to be a 2 year experience... I came back 12 years later, married, father of an adorable girl and with 3 cats. Photography stepped into my life when I was in Brazil, mainly because I wanted to document this experience, to keep and share memories of this new “brazilian life”. That time photography was just a tool to capture memories; it had a secondary role. It was during my travel to Patagonia that my passion for photography really began. I had to see those glaciers my grandfather had shown me on pictures by myself, and I wanted to reach Cape Horn, the name of a place that had resonated in my mind since I was a kid, when I was reading books about fearless adventurers. I had never seen such a wild place, battered by the elements and where humans feel so small. I felt the need to capture more than its beauty; I wanted to share the emotions that arise within when standing in front of such a rugged landscape, contemplating its immensity. It was also during that trip that I realized for the first time how humans have changed the world. This particular trip influenced me in every possible way, and today I am an engineer in climate change. As such, I am much more conscious about whatever I do and how it influences climate change - but also my approach to travel has changed: I travel slow and closer to home. I take straight flights and always compensate for emissions, while I travel longer but less often. And most importantly, I travel to learn, to grow personally, to gather valuable experiences and knowledge to understand the world and embrace diversity." You can read @ghislain_fave original story visiting the link in the bio! 🤗 @nomadict

Vance Creek Bridge, a good reminder for our future! With @mrgeeseeks / @nomadict: Located in the Olympic Peninsula, really close to one of the few temperate rain forests in the world - The Olympic National Park - you will find the second-highest railroad arch in the United States, after the nearby High Steel Bridge. The Vance Creek Bridge was built for a logging railroad owned by the Simpson Logging Company in 1929. About 41 years later, the bridge was decommissioned during the decline of logging on the Olympic Peninsula. Interestingly, the following was written in the New York Times (@nytimes) on March 30, 1992: "It wasn't so long ago that the Olympic Peninsula, home of the only temperate rainforest in the contiguous United States, called itself the logging capital of the world. A big man and a chainsaw could cut enough trees in a day to build two average-sized houses. Of course, those trees may have lived five centuries and harbored untold biological secrets, and therein lies the conflict. The public owns most of the big trees left in the country. More and more, they are valued for something other than building materials. Because of environmental restrictions, concern about the shrinking habitat of endangered wildlife like the northern spotted owl, automation and over-cutting on some lands, the timber industry here is but a ghost of what it once was. This spring, Mr. Phillips, who owns one of the last of the small timber operations on the peninsula, is closing his business. For him and his crew, this is the final clear-cut." As the Vance Creek Bridge continues to gain popularity as an attraction for photographers due to its isolation and special ambience, its abandoned structure reminds us of the past. Things we used to do, build or take for granted in the past are no longer valid or useful today. One can only hope that our present actions leave behind only a bunch of photogenic structures... "The future depends on what we do in the present." Don't you think? Special greetings to @mrgeeseeks for sharing this #cinematicfpv with us!

Highlights 2019 - Interview with @charlysavely - Brought to you via nomadict.org / @nomadict: Charlotte shared some valuable tips with us about 10 months ago. Since then, we have seen her going on countless personal and professional adventures with her favorite person: @joshsavely. Together, they moved out of their Seattle apartment and into their van with their two pups: "We are choosing the mobile life in order to find home and exploring what Home means to us." Being on adventure...That is what home looks like for some of us :) The following was one of our favorite parts of the interview: @nomadict: Imagine yourself at the beginning of your professional career as a photographer. What four pieces of advice would you give to yourself? @charlysavely: I think being a freelance photographer is such a trial and error career. You constantly make mistakes, learn from them and adapt. I think the advice I would give myself would still be the advice I give myself today: 1) Don’t doubt yourself. Even if you feel super far behind or overwhelmed, press on. Don’t look at others success and compare or get down about where you are. You are there for a reason. If you work hard, you will find your own successes. 2) Never stop learning. There’s always something to learn and you’re never too old. Photography is constantly growing, changing, updating. It can be hard to keep up. But you have too if you want to be on top. I constantly watch online classes to continue learning new things in this realm. 3) Never stop hustling. There’s work out there, chase after it, it won’t just come to you. If you’re not getting any emails, reach out, make pitches. Network, go out of your comfort zone and meet people. 4) Be kind to those you encounter and be thankful for every opportunity that comes your way. That’s just general advice for your whole life. Every opportunity that has come my way has been a total blessing and learning experience. Being thankful and kind will always help make you a better person. @nomadict: If you didn’t read the interview with @charlysavely yet, you can find the link in the Bio! This highlight has been brought to you via nomadict.org!

"No matter the situation, there is always a story behind every image, a reason why we choose to release the shutter." With @miquelserrra / "In the past two years I’ve had the privilege to travel to Shanghai, Marrakesh, Porto and San Francisco among others, allowing me to shoot in diverse scenarios. There are still many places I want to travel to in the future and there are so many things yet to be seen. I have always had side jobs besides my studies, which allowed me to realize these travels, living these experiences and capturing them. Traveling and being able to take with me tiny fragments of memories trapped inside my camera is pure satisfaction. That is why, for now, I’m focused on landscape photography; it brings me happiness. So, when I had the opportunity to study in Scotland as an Erasmus student, I grabbed it with both hands. Scotland has so many incredible landscapes to photograph! Every possible moment I take the chance to travel across the highlands and explore everything this beautiful country has to offer. Visiting the Isle of Skye has probably been one of the most breathtaking trips I’ve ever done. One particular picture that I am proud of is the one of the highland cow (see pic. 3). I took that photo when I went to the Loch Lomond. After hiking up to Conic Hill, I saw this majestic cow laying calmly on my way down. I started photographing it from the distance, but slowly and safely, I moved closer. Every movement was slow and steady to avoid it feeling threatened, I even disabled the “click” sound from my camera. I was excited but scared at the same time, though the beast did not seem to care much about my presence. After taking the pictures I wanted, I left the same way I had arrived. In the end photography is a form of art, and thus, a world of creativity and self-expression. No matter the situation, there is always a story behind every image, a reason why we choose to release the shutter. My motivation is to transmit a story with passion, telling as much as I can by showing less, keeping the photograph serene, and calm, and by this means, inspire those who want to take a similar path." Special greetings to @miquelserrra! 🤗 @nomadict

Breaking routine! With @florianhoferphoto / "I finished a study in tourism and started working in the upper hospitality as a chef in some renowned hotels and Michelin starred restaurants in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. I love cooking, but at some point I needed a break from all the stress. So I decided to do a trip to Thailand with my best friend Mario. I bought a beginner level camera and upon arrival in Thailand, I started to take photos. I was amazed by the different landscapes and the beauty of the country and I took many shots to remind me of this experience. Once back home though, I got back to my routine: a 14 hour working day, six days a week. So you can imagine that I didn’t pick up the camera at all. I was just doing my thing, and enjoying it, but also feeling the stress and the routine again. So when an old coworker and great friend who moved to Canada called me one day and proposed me to work with them, I didn’t hesitate a second. As soon as I finished the paperwork, I hopped on a plane and started my new adventure, a very unexpected one! Every day off, I was outdoors, exploring the area in the Okanagan valley and traveling to the rocky mountains. There were so many new things to see for me; I was surprised by the nature all the time. I hadn’t seen such magnificent landscapes before. It was because of that, that I decided to upgrade my camera - just to visit places and shot. I can say that everything changed because of this year abroad. I moved back home after a year, got back to the kitchen, doing what I love and forgot about the camera again. But I guess that my travel to Thailand and my experience in Canada had shown me that escaping from routine is so much fun. I didn’t stay home for long. I went to Florida, working in a beach club on West Palm Beach with an acquaintance during the Winter season, and not even home an old study mate contacted me and asked if I wanted to go to Iceland for Summer… Now I still live in Iceland and I have an exposition of my KLAKI series in Swiss - Klaki means ice in icelandic, by the way!" You can read @florianhoferphoto original story visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

A wish to show the wild beauty of the mountains! With @tg_photographie_ / "Nature is a blank painting that I love to sublimate with my creativity and my universe. If you ask me, my favorite place to be is in the mountains. My approach is to show the wild and raw beauty that it can offer, between these summits and its glaciers. Also, it’s in the mountains were we find the most beautiful light; a light very changeable and capricious, which I love. It can be super strong, or very soft, which in turn influences the ambiance. Experiencing all the four seasons at the same day isn’t rare when you’re up in the mountains. I particularly love Winter; it’s just magical to be up there. The snow covers the mountains and the frosty atmospheres give a very majestic mood to the photos. But whatever the season is, it’s a place where, once all alone facing the massiveness, we feel the power of nature. I have been developing my photography skills for more than 5 years now and after studying business, I opened my own photo gallery at 18 years old. Finding my own style has been key in this regard: Nowadays I have a dark style in which I like to play with mystery and to emphasize certain elements. I like the detail and being in the mountains, climbing the peaks and going off road allows me to find these details that will make the difference. A texture, a rock, everything can be beautiful with the right light. I wish to show the still wild beauty of the mountains and other places, still virgin and protected. By sharing my photos in social media, I hope to show that there is so much more out there than what you first may see on Internet or IG. Through my vision and my world I also wish to sensitize people to respect nature. Photography made me discover another aspect of nature, and I learned to respect and protect all that we have left. In addition, it punctuates my daily life... I could not do without it. My urge to travel is still becoming stronger, as well as my desires for always higher peaks and my wish to capture all this beauty. Photography has become more than a passion for me!" 🤗 You can find @tg_photographie_ original story visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

"Photography woke up my love for adventures all over the world!" With @jonstrah / "My name is Jonas Strahberger, I'm 19 years old and live in the heart of Switzerland. My dad has always been into photography, but personally I was actually never interested in anything that was related to art. Meanwhile though, I had heard a lot from people who just left to travel for a long time, and that was something that did seem interesting to me. This desire to actually do it myself too, became stronger over time, because I felt I needed a break from all that I was so occupied with. In Switzerland life goes very fast, it’s all about performance and you feel the pressure from others, businesses, school, your parents... So I started to save money, to leave as well, some day, for some kind of travel. When I was 18, this dream came true. I decided to take a gap year in between my apprenticeship and bachelors, and was ready for the adventure I had been looking forward to. For the first time in my life I left Europe, and went on a trip to the west of the United States of America. I bought a Gopro Hero 6 before leaving to capture my trip. I was blown away by the nature of the west and I wanted these memories to last forever. This trip didn't only change my stance to photography but also I opened my heart to the beauty of Earth's nature. I soon realized that capturing with a GoPro wasn’t enough to express my experiences, neither the US to fulfill my desire to travel. Now, a little more than one year later, I've visited about 15 countries on five continents, shot more than 20,000 photos on my Sony a7iii, collaborated with Sony Alpha Switzerland and grew an instagram community of about 3000 followers who are hopefully inspired by my work. Since I take photos on a regular base, I see myself much more often outdoors in nature. Photography woke up my love for adventures all over the world..." @nomadict: What you just read is the introduction to @jonstrah original story. We wish we could use more words on IG, but we can't! However, you can find the original and totally worth reading story with Jonas by visiting the link in the bio!

Living for today! With @_armiiin_ / "My name is Armin and I'm from Upper Austria. I spend most of my time in the Austrian Alps - Flachauwinkl, Mayrhofen and Hintertux glacier are some of my favorite spots by the way. I love hiking and freestyle snowboarding, so it’s not surprising you can often find me in the mountains. Being outdoors has always been a passion for me; as a kid I was always outside. It makes me feel happy, free and calm. And now that I found photography, it makes it even more fun to be outside. I got into photographing because of my snowboard colleagues and nowadays I collaborate with different wintersport areas in Austria and have shot for two world record attempts: @guenter.schachermayr is an Austrian extreme sports athlete and he contacted me over Instagram to ask if I could capture his world record attempt. For the first one, he went paragliding with a Vespa, flying over the Wolfgangsee, a lake in Austria. He flew about 75 meters high and made two rounds around the entire lake. I was in another boat, photographing and filming the event, and I felt super excited to be part of it. Later, he called me again to shoot at another world record attempt for which he had planned to drive up the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, blinded, and with his Vespa. This was again a risky, but amazing world record. I am glad I got the opportunity to capture it; since I love sports, mountains, and photography, it brought together all my passions - see pics 7 & 8. I do enjoy various photography styles, but none are comparable to how I feel when I am doing landscapes. You don’t need much to get the most beautiful pictures; just your camera and a little bit of luck with the weather. And the best thing... You get to appreciate nature and everything it provides us with. That’s why I love to keep my photos natural as well when editing, because it’s already beautiful by itself. So, I try to maximize photos by paying attention to the colors and the mood. I learned to listen to my heart and feel the mood when taking, selecting and editing photos. Photography brought me closer to nature and myself." You can read @_armiiin_ original story visiting the link in the bio! 🤗 @nomadict

Dreams become reality! With @fabian_kuenzel - Winner Best of the Week 46 at #nomadict / “My passion for traveling developed during my studies: I could choose to study abroad for half a year or to do an internship somewhere in Germany. I decided to study in Sweden. I fell in love with this way of traveling: Living and working for a longer period in a different country. The experience is completely different if you stay longer than just for two weeks or so. You will become part of the society, you will learn the language and culture, and you will find long lasting friendships. When I finished my studies, I went to the UK to work for a conservation organisation for a year. It was there, that I found my passion for the outdoors. Almost every weekend I went on hikes in the Lake District. I have always wanted to capture my adventures and at this point I only had a small point and shoot camera. I bought my first mirrorless camera before going on my next adventure: Moving to Norway. For about a year I lived, worked and studied in a new country again. So with this trip, my passion for photography really started. My passion for the outdoors and photography had grown over the years and as many photographers, I was dreaming about turning my passion into a career. So I decided to make my dream come true: In 2018 I started my own business and now I am working as a photographer and social media expert. I accompany expeditions and adventure travels as a photographer. It brings together both my passions so even though it’s for real, it’s still a dream actually. These expeditions are a great way of getting feedback. Social media is useful to show your work to a big audience and getting comments, but it’s not as satisfying as seeing and hearing other’s reactions directly. When I accompany expeditions as a photographer, I often show the photos I took after an adventurous day. The sparkling eyes, smiles and warm words of the people are the most rewarding feedback you can get. Then I know that I fulfilled my goal: To capture special moments and create memories for a lifetime.” Congratulations @fabian_kuenzel! Now you have access to the final prize, $500 in cash! 🎉🤗 @nomadict

Beauty, quite often, resides in the simplest things! With @coridor13 / “I am a very creative person and have always enjoyed being out in nature. Already as a child I spent a lot of time in the Swiss mountains with my family, hiking near where we live, or further away when on holidays. That's how I got to know and appreciate the beauty of nature and its facets early on. Exploring new things always gave me great pleasure and I was often taking photos of the beautiful spots I found. Soon though, just taking a photo, quickly and simply, wasn’t enough. I wanted to understand how a picture is created, what it takes to get a good picture, what conditions and parameters were influencing the photo and how to adjust these. So I decided to buy a camera and another world revealed to me. Ever since, I have been dedicating countless hours in order to improve my visual content. But I didn't just learn about photography since I got more into this. There are so many little things you learn about, that you might not even realize when you are in the middle of it. But when you take a step back and analyse how your vision of the world and beauty have evolved, you will note a huge difference. The world has so much to offer. You just have to discover it, and photography has allowed me, and I am sure many others, to become very aware of all the little details, structures and colors in nature. There are amazing places to photograph all over the world and it’s normal we feel the desire to go there. These photography hotspots are mostly shared, but we shouldn’t forget that you can already find nice photograph opportunities in the nearby forest or the mountains, where you find even more untouched nature and above all, no tourists. I find it very exciting to find and explore unspoiled places in my own country. Through photography I have already reached many wonderful places that I would probably never have discovered otherwise, even nearby, and I hope to discover many more in the next years, continuing with capturing impressive moments, and freezing emotions, feelings and moments forever.” You can read @coridor13 original story visiting the link in the bio! 🤗🙌 @nomadict

St. Gallen, a unique region in Swiss that influenced present geology! With @banniukfpv /  Located in the north east of Swiss, the mountains of St. Gallen include a part of a thrust fault that was declared a geologic UNESCO world heritage site, under the name Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, in 2008. A thrust fault, by the way, is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust faults of this kind are not uncommon in many mountain ranges around the world, but the Glarus thrust - located in this inspiring region - is a well accessible example and has as such played an important role in the development of geological knowledge on mountain building. The first naturalist to examine the Glarus thrust was Escher von der Linth (1767-1823) who was a Swiss scientist, artist, and politician. Escher discovered that, contradictory to Steno's law superposition, older rocks are on top of younger ones in certain outcrops in Glarus. At the turn of the century, Albert Heim and other Swiss geologists started mapping the nappes of Swiss in more detail. From that moment on, geologists began recognizing large thrusts in many mountain ranges around the world. However, only with the arrival of the plate tectonic theory in the 1950s, it was finally understood where the forces that moved nappes came from. Nowadays geologists believe most mountain ranges are formed by convergent movements between tectonic plates. More than 50 years later, Glarus thrust was declared a world heritage since "the area displays an exceptional example of mountain building through continental collision." So, it is not surprising that the American Museum of Natural History in New York exposes a full-scale reconstruction of the Glarus thrust. Overall, St. Gallen is home to countless sites which have attracted naturalists, mountaineers and geologists from all over the world. Probably, one of the less known spots is Wildhaus - a little village where this amazing video was filmed. Interestingly, here you will find Eastern Swiss’ largest winter sports area as well - having over 37 miles (60 km) of pistes waiting to be explored! 😊 Special greetings to @banniukfpv! @nomadict

"I go to nature to be healed and to have my senses put in order... Without landscape photography, I would have never realized this." With @edouard.dotezac / "With experience and time, I discovered that my real passion in photography goes to landscapes and wildlife. Maybe this has been influenced by the place where I live: Vionnaz. I am at the foot of the mountains, so without having to go very far I have a lot of things to discover: The fields, the mountains, the lakes you can find on higher altitudes, the animals... And all that changes completely each season. It never bores me to go out, with or without camera, because the environment is just so diverse, and above all very beautiful all the time. That is not just in my area though, Switzerland in general has uncountable amazing spots. I still have a lot to discover here, but so far my favorite places would be Blausee lake, Zermatt (going up by train to Gornergrat!) and Lac de Taney. It’s a great escape for me to go out, discovering new places in Switzerland or abroad. I work in sales and I am always very occupied. I like it, but probably just like anyone else, I really need these moments to disconnect with everything else that’s going on, to connect with myself and nature, doing what I love to do. I try to travel as much as possible, always having the objective to discover newness and to go further with my passion: photography. Landscape photography, I believe, has contributed greatly to my life: it helped me finding my identity and listening to myself and my feelings. It forced me to go beyond of what I thought I was capable of and taught me the importance of being connected to myself and nature. I became much more patient, waiting for sunsets, clouds, light, animals… And also, I got much healthier. I don’t like fitness or many other sports, but because of photography I am hiking for hours, wandering around in the mountains. It helped me to step out of my comfort zone and to prove myself that this passion was real, and that I can reach places that I wouldn’t have imagined going to if I didn’t do photography.” You can now read @edouard.dotezac original story visiting the link in the bio! 🤗 @nomadict

Talent Pool! Starring, @daniel_koehalmi / You already got the chance to get to know Daniel since we shared his story a while ago. We have been keeping in touch with him, seeing him growing, and today we welcome him officially to our Talent Pool! Daniel is from Hungary and based in Munich, Germany. During his sabbatical year he has been searching for the cause of the empty feeling he had, and in his search for purpose he found nature and photography to be the remedy. He has been learning about photography constantly, practicing every day, and is reaching his goal to live from photography step by step. First he found purpose in life, and now he is gradually finding his photography style, experimenting with elements and applying all that he has learned in his own way. He describes this beautifully: “My photography is documenting my artistic journey.” With his photography, Daniel loves to demonstrate the connection between human and nature in every possible form, transmitting feelings and emotions. In this sense, he is not just referring to landscapes, but also to animals. He would love to do more wildlife photography, and what makes him feel so enthusiastic about this, is again the connection you can feel. His favorite photos are a portraiture of a fox with closed eyes (see pic. 7) and a capture where two deers are looking at each other, standing in the snow. He says: “Both expressions are almost human like.” We are closer to nature than we think, but we need to take time and being open to see and feel it. This sabbatical taught Daniel a lot regarding this. He realized how narrow minded we can get in some situations and in our careers; careers can consume us. Seeing the contrast during his sabbatical helped him tremendously to put things into perspective and having a healthier attitude in general. He mentions: “I have a huge amount of trust in life and myself: I know that I can build up a life and a lifestyle I would be happy with and through this I can contribute to this world much more.” Curious about what other advices and experiences @daniel_koehalmi has shared with us?! You can now read the full interview visiting nomadict.org! 🤗 @nomadict

"I rather see the world and grow as a person, than being stuck both mentally and physically in one place!" With @lisasihlberg / "My name is Lisa Sihlberg and my work, passion and life goal is to make people aware of our amazing planet and that we need to take care of it. A couple of years back I was stuck in the “ hamster wheel”, working at a job that didn’t spark creativity, forcing me to stay in one place and held back my passion for nature. Since I already knew life is short, I made a choice to risk my “imaginary” safety and economic stability and went against the “normal” stream. I quit my job, left for travelling despite my fears of failing earning money with my photography. That was six years ago. Now I am working with my passion for nature and expressing it through photography and storytelling. I am participating in nature projects and traveling, learning more and more about our world. And I have never been more happy. We are constantly surrounded by magic, but sometimes we are too distracted to realize that all we need to be happy and live a fulfilled life is a healthy nature. I am happy to be able to work with my passion, raising awareness and exploring the world at the same time. I believe that life is too short to waste it on working with something you don’t feel passionate about, just to earn money, that you will then spend on things you don’t really need. I choose to live a minimalistic (or functionalistic) life style, mostly for our planet, but also to afford to travel and to feel that I am free and not held back by materialistic things. I believe that through experiencing other cultures around the world we get a better understanding of what’s happening around us, and we can feel more respect and love for each other: it helps us grow as persons. I realized that, except from my camera gear, I can live from what I have in my backpack. I rather see the world and grow as a person, than being stuck both mentally and physically in one place." Special greetings to @lisasihlberg for sharing this wonderful story with us! You can find the original version visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

The importance of being yourself, specially in landscape photography! With @oli.szoke / "Living in Stuttgart, Germany, has one big advantage: Reaching the German or Austrian alps within 2 hours by car! This area certainly motivated me to go outdoors and inspired me to dive deeper into photography. As my passion for photography grew, I began to experiment with new angles, perspectives and hiking routines... As a result, one day I found myself at the top of Pico do Arieiro, one of the highest mountains in Madeira. The effort and the fatigue to witness the sunrise up there were significant. Yet, the experience was totally worth it. At that moment, the landscape photographer within me was born. Since then, I went on photo trips almost every weekend in order to keep growing as an artist. Nowadays I work as a Director of Photography in Film and my aim is to put spirit into my photos, to tell a story and to evoke a mood or feeling. I try to always keep my goal in mind and remember why I am a landscape photographer, a creator of visual art and adventurer. Exploring nature and finding quiet places full of beauty and without tourists is the best. The most important thing I need is my creativity, and of course my camera. There is also perseverance and motivation though, because hiking with a backpack full of camera gear, food and warm clothes isn’t always easy. As a landscape photographer, you need to learn how to go about a couple of inconvenient circumstances and step out of your comfort zone sometimes to achieve that stunning photo, taken from a surprising perspective and having this magical touch after editing: Dreaminess, this is the feeling I want to convey. At the end, I guess it’s the most important that you have the right motivation for what you are doing, and for me this always lays in oneself. Finding inspiration elsewhere is fine, but always apply your talent, your personal creativity, your fascination for nature and your adventurous mindset, whether it’s about traveling to places, shooting from certain angles or about editing the photo to give it that extra dimension!” You can find @oli.szoke's original story visiting the link in the bio! A must read! @nomadict

"Traveling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller!" With @aloha_lars / "My name is Lars, and I live in Southern Germany, where you can find the mountain range Swabian Jura, to be more precise. I didn't have the chance to travel the world and to see a lot of different countries when I was younger, so when I started earning my own money I wanted to catch up as much as possible. Our planet has so many beautiful places to offer and I want to explore as much as I can. Though my brother was into photography already, I started with photography myself primarily to share these travels and experiences with my friends and my family. I guess Ibn Battuta was right: “Traveling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” Besides learning about our world, traveling also contributed to my personal development. I have been confronted with things I’d never have been confronted with if I hadn’t traveled, which means that I got to know myself so much better. I learned that I am a much stronger person than in the past. Until 2016 I had never traveled by plane because I was too afraid of flying. Then I saw pictures of Alison Teal surfing in front of the Lava eruption on Hawaii’s Big Island. Until now, in my opinion, those are the best pictures that someone has ever taken. After seeing this I made up my mind: My fear would no longer hold me back. That's why I decided to hop on a plane and fly around the globe. My first flight was from Germany to Hawaii, a distance of around 12.000 km! I also wanted to see the Lava flow and to shoot some epic pictures there. I guess at that point, the true passion for photography was awakened within me. Hawaii and the Aloha spirit really changed my mind, that's one reason why I've chosen @aloha_lars as my nickname. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I honestly don't even know what I want to eat tomorrow… But all joking aside: I just want to keep going on adventures and doing what I love, including photography!" @aloha_lars shared a beautiful story with us and what you just read is a small insight actually. You can read the original version visiting the link in the bio! Thanks for reading! 🤗 @nomadict

Highlights 2019! Interview with @heykelseyj - Brought to you via nomadict.org / We kicked-off 2019 with an interview with Kelsey. If you wonder why it’s a highlight for us… Just keep reading and you will understand! Kelsey told us she quitted her desk job after several years, to chase the life she has been dreaming of. That sounds amazing, and it’s something many people say they would want to do. The difference between those who desire and those who actually act upon, is having traveling as priority number one, putting it before everything else. Kelsey mentioned that it all comes down to sacrifice; reducing on your spending habits, cutting down on other things your enjoyed and you were used to is not that easy, and living in hostels, a camper van or in a tent all the time is not the most comfortable. It might be difficult, but she says: “It is more than worth it when you have those huge moments, those unforgettable memories that you’re going to remember forever.” This is related to one of her advices she would give: She recommended that if you find something you really want more than anything, you should go after it as hard as you possibly can. We don’t have time to waste, the sooner you take action, the sooner you will get to your goal, and you won’t regret: “You can’t just sit back and wait for the work to come to you, you have to go out and get it!! Putting all her effort in her goal, traveling, changed her life completely. Traveling also made her happy; feeling determined about what she wanted to do in life and knowing so much more about the world. It made her understand how big and diverse the world really is. She said: “You can’t really understand people that are different from yourself unless you really go out there and meet them, and immerse yourself in other cultures.” With her photography, Kelsey hopes to inspire people to travel, and in turn, to be more accepting and caring of other people as well as the environment. We are inspired by her words and photographs, what about you?! We are happy that we got to know Kelsey, and to share her story with all of you. Read the complete interview on our magazine, we bet she will inspire you too! 🤗 @nomadict

Highlights 2019 - Winner Editing Contest Vol. 4: @mariolezaun! Sponsored by @skylum_global and @voited / Mario won our 4th editing contest thanks to your votes! Do you remember the poll we did just a few weeks ago? Well, Mario bought his first camera right before leaving to Norway for a semester abroad. He had never really been into photography, but discovered all the ins and outs in Norway, where he found incredibly beautiful landscapes to capture and professional photographers to learn from. This semester abroad was life changing for him, and to make it even more special, he had the chance to witness the northern lights when he was at the Lofoten. He said: I saw the northern lights for the first time during that trip and that is one of the most magic moments I have ever lived. So when he saw our editing contest and this @robin.wittwer's photo of the Lofoten, he knew exactly how to edit it: "I tried to highlight the strong Norwegian Winter by using cold tones of such a magical place and appreciate it as how it really is..." It's often the story beyond that makes the difference. Don't you think that it's curious that he won this contest with a photo from the Lofoten, a place that is so special to him? As we celebrate this special moment, we'll like to mention as well the other three artists that won our previous editing contests: @maryleedjohnson, @wild_breath_ and @badakkekar. In 2020, if everything goes well, we would love to keep hosting this thrilling contests. It has been pretty impressive to see your creations: all different and unique, with a special story behind... By the way, you can read @mariolezaun's complete story and get to know more about his edit and life changing experience by visiting the link in the bio! Special greetings to @skylum_global and @voited for your support in vol. 4! Cheers @robin.wittwer for being such a phenomenal guest! 🤗 @nomadict

GIVEAWAY! It is time to celebrate! 🎉🎉 This week we reached 90k on Instagram and to thank you for your support, trust and loyalty we have partnered up with @passengerclothing to give away a fantastic prize: A Backpack, Travel Organizer, Water Bottle and Packaway Tote Bag! 🤠 To enter the giveaway you just have to: 1. Follow @passengerclothing 2. Place your entry by: Sharing this post in a Story encouraging others to participate - Entry 1 Or / And Sharing this giveaway with three friends by tagging them and commenting on the post - Entry 2 You can place as many entries as you wish! The more entries you present, the bigger the chances to win! Easy peasy! Among all the entries presented in time, we'll select the winner. The winner will be announced in exactly seven days in our Stories! You can find a visual description of the prize in our Stories and bio highlights by the way. THANK YOU again for your support 🙏 As we often say, none of this would be possible without you. Seeing how active and welcoming you guys have been with the personal stories that we have shared during the past months makes us feel super proud of this community. Let's see where we can go from here. Together, we can do great things, of that we are sure! Happy weekend everyone and see you tomorrow with another story! Special greetings to @mcgee for sharing this wonderful video with us! If you are curious about this talented artist, you can find our interview with him at nomadict.org! 🤗 @nomadict

Finding your physical and mental limits through photography! With @moody.antonio - Winner Best of the Week 45 at #nomadict / Since I can remember, I always loved to be creative and I’ve spent hours on creating stories or works from nothing. What draws me more towards photography is the fact that there are endless subjects to photograph and endless techniques to try. It’s exactly this that makes that I never get tired of photography. It made me discover places I wouldn't have discovered unless I went out to take photos. But most importantly, it made me realize that if you really want to take some photos of incredible landscapes, you need to have a commitment to yourself. You need to really know or feel why you do it, and accept some of the risks or consequences that could be involved in actually going to those places. I try to go out in every type of weather condition and test myself that way: I believe that a certain landscape has endless possibilities specially with different weather conditions (rain, snow, sunrise, sunset, fog, and so on). For me, that's all what photography is about: taking photos of landscapes and trying to find your physical and mental limits while doing that. Besides learning about and discovering unknown spots that I could photograph, it’s important to me to keep improving and learning about photography. Not just related to landscape photography, but also looking at artwork from photographers that have nothing in common with what I am doing, to learn different techniques from them. I think that doing different types of photography (for instance events, street, or architecture) helps with that. I try to go with the flow, pick up things around me and trying things out, while shooting, but also in my editing. It is actually very interesting how people perceive a photo differently. Some people can relate, others can’t. Sometimes I ask people how a specific photo made them feel, and they always tell me things that surprise me and I never thought about... Quite nice to see that you guys enjoyed my winning photo though! Thank you for voting for me!" Congratulations @moody.antonio! Now you have access to the final prize, 500$ in cash! @nomadict

If everyone had the opportunity to travel for a long period, the world would be much different! With @stanwolfnet / "My photography journey started when I was working as a volunteer at a sport competition event at the university. A curator was looking for a person who could take a few pictures during the competition for the sports journal. Apparently, I was the only person who at least knew how to hold a camera. Since that time I'm passionate about photography. However, life does sometimes it's own thing and because of different reasons I didn't pick up my camera for almost six years. Finally, I managed to come back to photography two years ago. I got the chance to travel a bit more and since my first trip with the camera I got super enthusiastic about capturing all the nature and landscapes. Now I work as a software developer, but I dedicate almost all my free time to photography. It became a lifestyle and it influences the way I spend my days, weekends and holidays. So nowadays photography and traveling are two closely related things for me. The one doesn’t come without the other. For me, traveling is not a touristy thing anymore. It’s exploring, searching for and shooting the beauty of remote places other than visiting touristic highlights. It inspires me a lot and I hope my work can inspire others as well to travel more. Seeing the world opens your mind and I think this would only do good to us. I became so much more grateful for what the Earth is providing us with. Acknowledging the fact that you are just a "passenger" on this planet and you need to keep the “train” clean and tidy at the moment you leave it, is a very important thing in my eyes. By sharing my photographs, I want to bring people’s attention to how our nature is beautiful but at the same time how it's fragile. Nowadays my ultimate goal would be to work with big projects that aim to spread that awareness about environmental change all around the world. Without traveling, I wouldn't have realized that... My tip? Take a gap year, grab a backpack and travel the world. The return of investment couldn't be greater! Special greetings to @stanwolfnet! I hope you enjoyed Stan's story! 🤗 @nomadict

Autumn vibes! By @nomadict's Talent Pool / The period between the autumnal equinox (day and night equal in length), September 22 or 23, and the Winter solstice (year’s shortest day), December 21 or 22, is known as Autumn. However, before the 16th century, 'harvest' was the term normally used to refer to the season, and this word is still commonly used in other West Germanic languages. In many cultures, Autumn, like the other seasons, has been marked by rites and festivals revolving around the season’s importance in food production. As daylight began to fade and darkness lay ahead, societies practiced rituals and offerings to their gods and goddesses for a bountiful harvest that would help them through Winter. Historians explain how Aztecs for instance used to practice human sacrifices to honor their goddess of sustenance and fertility. As more people gradually moved from farming to living in towns, the word harvest lost its significance to the time of year and now only refers to the actual activity of reaping. Autumn, as well as fall, began to replace harvest as a reference to the season. The word Autumn, by the way, comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it all sorts of connotations of the passing of the year. In the Medieval period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century it was in common use. Nowadays, this picturesque season of the year has a strong link to the changing colors of nature for most of us; and to leaves, of course. In Autumn, leaves stop their food-making process because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. To celebrate this colorful season, we have selected 6 unique photographs by our Talent Pool members! A huge shoutout to the 6 of them for making this post possible! 🤗 #talentpool @alchenick - Laghi San Giuliano @daniel_koehalmi - Ferchensee @bammbanana - Ukraine @gergok - Germany @amslebrun - Driffield @hollow.sun - Iceland @roamwithpug

"I will continue shooting, admiring the sky, climbing mountains and being fascinated by simple things!" With @raphaellemonvoisin / "I grew up in South of France surrounded by beautiful pine forests, but I had to move to Paris at the beginning of my teens. Ever since, I never felt I was at the right place and I have been dreaming about remote places that could fill my need for wildscapes and stunning nature. During the years I have developed a true passion for mountains, and I cherish forests as a homeland. I don’t travel for the sake of traveling; I travel to reach and discover places where I feel home and where I can learn more about myself, find myself. The connection between humans and nature is an important aspect that feeds my art nowadays. In a world where humans take control over every little thing, it is crucial for me to remember how to contemplate, to listen what the world has to say. Solitude and introspection are themes that drive my work and that I like to explore through the purest link we have with nature. To feed my creativity, I try to pay attention to my surroundings to exercise my eye, to observe and get inspired by simple things. Because inspiration can come from everything, a specific light, some interesting contrasts, a street, a tree, the sky... As long as you keep your eyes open, there is something to take. I always have a little notebook in my bag to write or draw some ideas if suddenly I feel inspired. I feel that discovering new places is very important as a photographer, but even more as a human being. When I discover a new place, I try to contemplate what the world has to say, to listen to my deep feelings and gather these emotions to remember the moment. These feelings and these emotions are pure and driven by the beauty of the memory. This is what influences my photography. Not only I want to capture beautiful moments frozen in time, I also want to share the introspective emotions and thoughts that come with them. I make sure to dedicate some time to think about what I want to create and why, what do I want to say and share." Special greetings to @raphaellemonvoisin! You can find the original story visiting the link in the bio! @nomadict

Follow your ideas, imagine, and then, create from that! With @auubeo / "My name is Arthur. I’m 20 years old and live in Bordeaux since 2 years now. I’m studying International Trade, Communication and Marketing here in an International Business School, which is one of the reasons why I got more into traveling and curious about cultures. I went abroad to Germany and Greece as part of my study and lived together with local families during these semesters. However, I think the foundation of my curiosity for other countries, landscapes and cultures derives from the trips my parents took me on when I was younger. It’s also because of my parents I got into photography: They gave me a camera as a present for my 15th birthday. This present has helped me a lot in my personal development; I have always been shy and the camera offered me new ways to express myself. I finally found a way to share my stories and show where I have been. For me, traveling is a way to explore, to feel free and to provide myself with space to think about what I want. Living in a city makes me feel stressed sometimes and being outside shooting is relaxing and above all very inspiring. I think inspiration is something very powerful to keep ourselves motivated and our mind and imagination active. Seeing people creating things as they have in mind is one of the greatest things in art for sure. I love to create and show my followers what I see and how I see it, it’s about sharing a part of myself with others. With my photography, I want to inspire others a well; awaken feelings, emotions and desires. In my opinion we are lucky to have social platforms where we can share, demonstrate, contemplate, interpret and appreciate art the way we feel like. However, I try to use Instagram as less as possible because it can also kill your creativity. Looking at some photographers and thinking that that’s the way to do things is a mistake that you may make even unconsciously. Follow your ideas, imagine, and then, create from that! Art has beauty and emotional power, but it’s subjective. So I always try to stay true to myself!" Special greetings to @auubeo! 🤗 @nomadict

Mountaineering and rooftopping as a source for adrenaline and creativity! With @dimitr / “I grew up travelling with my family and I have always been a big fan of mountains. Being that high just gives me an amazing feeling; the challenge to get up and the unique view as a reward once you reach the top. It’s exactly this unique view that convinced me to buy a drone four years ago: The perspectives it offers are impressive and I love to share these. I got more and more into photography, so I decided to buy my first camera one year after that. Meanwhile, I had met a colleague at school who mainly traveled to see and climb skyscrapers. As I love heights and exploring, you can already imagine what happened... I accompanied him once to experiment what was called ‘rooftopping’, and now I have already reached many rooftops spread over a variety of countries in Europe. It is so exciting to find out how to get to the roofs, to create tactics and investigate the building beforehand to know where the cameras and staircases are, how the doors are secured, etc. Not long ago, we climbed to the rooftop of an office tower. There were many obstacles, but after five hours we reached the top. Once we got caught and sometimes we have to run away, but that’s usually once mission is already completed. Even though I am still at school, rooftopping, travelling and alpinism are a big part of my life. I go whenever I can and I like to document these activities with photographs. Mountaineering and rooftopping give me somehow the same feeling; I love the adrenaline and the amazing perspective, having the world on your feed and feeling the wind blowing strongly around you. I am not sure yet how I want to include photography in my future career. Soon I have to choose what to do and I am doubting between going to Art School or studying Marketing. Whatever I choose, I want to do something with my creativity and keep creating visual content. I certainly know what is my passion, and it would be great if it can be part of my daily life in the future!” Special greetings to @dimitr! 😊🇨🇭 You can find the original version at nomadict.org! @nomadict

The beauty of the Pyrenees! With @florent_braquart - Winner Best of the Week 44 at #nomadict / The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between Spain and France. In Greek mythology, Pyrene is a princess who gave her name to the Pyrenees. According to Silius Italicus (a Latin epic poet of the 1st century CE), Pyrene was the virgin daughter of Bebryx, a king in Mediterranean Gaul by whom the hero Hercules was given hospitality during his quest to steal the cattle of Geryon during his famous Labours. This area has inspired many tales and to this day, is it one of the most picturesque and unspoiled regions in Europe. The Pyrenees has a political division; The Spanish Pyrenees and the French Pyrenees. On the “French side” you will find a department named Hautes-Pyrénées, consisting of mountains such as the Vignemale or the Pic du Midi de Bigorre for instance. A second area consists of low-altitude rolling hills while the immense forests, as the first photo of this series demonstrate, are pretty distinctive. The area has been known since Antiquity for it’s hot springs, and several towns were built around these. A good example is Cauterets, which certainly stands out - see pic. 2. Cauterets borders the Pyrenees National Park and the village gives access to many hiking trails serving natural sights, such as the Pic de Péguère at 2,316 metres - 7,598 ft. To the west and located just one hour an a half by car from Cauterets you will find a wonderful valley named Ossau. On your way to Ossau Valley you will be surrounded by a myriad of trees and plants - as pic. number 3 shows. If you have a drone, making a quick and safe stop to capture the road from above is certainly worth it. The 4th picture of this series showcase the beauty of the Pyrenees. It is around this type of landscapes where Florent feels most inspired. With his art, Florent “wants the viewer to stop and stare at the photo, making him/her think. Life is hard, ugly and sad sometimes, and through photography I want to share a vision that shows that human problems are meaningless compared to the immensity of the Earth." Congratulations @florent_braquart! 🤗🎉 @nomadict

Minimalistic moments around Davos Klosters, Swiss! With @leandiias / "I live in Davos, Switzerland. A wonderful place with fantastic nature and mountains directly in front of my house, so it’s no surprise that I love to be outside. One day I took my old camera, small and partly broken but still working, and began to shoot. When I was young, my teachers already told me I should go to art school because of my creativity. If I could choose again, I would definitely go, but we always need to get older to realize things about ourselves and to learn how to listen to our true desires and passions. Nowadays, photography is essential for me as it helps me to balance my life. I have a child with special needs, which is quite demanding and days are sometimes very long. Photography helps me to focus on my other self; going outside, being creative… Since I started with photography I have a different perspective of life. It broke the wall I had in front of me and helped me to widen my view, focussing on everything around me other than just the things directly in front of me and applying it to each aspect of life. I don’t have to travel around the world to be happy and take a lovely picture. I just take my jacket and my dog and walk out the door. Most of my pictures in my profile are from the area of Davos Klosters. Every day I see this beautiful little things that make me speechless. For me, photography is not just taking a picture. It’s paying attention to the little things in life and expressing my creativity, developing it day by day. In the end I wanna have a picture that I like, representing the moment as how I remember it, how it’s captured in my mind. I edit according to how I feel, and I think that my pictures have something emotional. My goal is that people see what’s behind the picture, feel the emotion, and for each individual that may be different. I just follow my heart, and don’t feel any pressure. All goes step by step, and perhaps in five years you can visit my first vernissage!" Special greeting to @leandiias! Did you know about this wonderful village? 🇨🇭🤗 @nomadict

"For me, home is just where the mountains are!" With @_marco_gr_ / My name is Marco and I’m 25 years old. I was born in Austria and I live there since ever. It’s not surprising that hiking has been a passion for me since I was little; I went out to hike basically every weekend. At some point I started with night hikes as well and enjoyed the magic of the sunrise. Austria is wonderful day and night, but my favorite moment is when I’m surrounded by mountains, seeing their reflection in the lake below and while the early sun rays color the mountains, reaching the horizon. It’s simply fantastic. These are incredible beautiful moments which I wanted to share with friends and family who were not much into hiking. So I decided to bring a camera with me on my walks to capture the natural events and witness every hike again. That was about five years ago. My love for photography has been growing since then. Photography allows me to create my own little world and makes me forget the everyday hassles for a moment. It is then when I can give free rein to my creative mind. For me, photography is more than just using the shutter of my camera; it is the experience to travel with friends, or random others that become friends, to contemplate breathtaking natural spectacles. Recently I went on a trip to Iceland with 3 almost unknown people. It was the best trip in my life! We had so much fun and were just discovering each corner of the country, taking photographs. The best hike was in the mountains of Landmannalaugar. The colours, the shapes and the air in this area are almost incomparable with other landscapes. I had only seen mountains like these on other pictures and suddenly I had the honor of shooting photos myself, for real. I felt so lucky. When I’m back home from my trips, I sit down with a cup of coffee for my editing work. When I look at the photo myself and I feel like if I was there again, taking the picture and having a smile on my face, I know I achieved what I was looking for, hoping that my photo will bring a smile on your face too." Special greetings to @_marco_gr_! 🤗 I hope you enjoyed his inspiring story! @nomadict

Talent Pool! Starring, @ogik_jatmiko! When living in Indonesia, Ogik was often doing street photography. In 2016 he moved to Austria and felt in love with the Austrian landscapes. He started taking photos of the surroundings near where he was living; since then focused more on landscape photography. However, only after reading an interview with photographer and content creator Dylan Furst (@fursty) he got serious about photography. Now he has made himself familiar with the Austrian landscapes and can’t wait for the first snowflakes to fall, turning Austria into an outstanding beautiful white winter wonderland. Ogik has a specific style of taking photos, but also of editing them. His love for mountains, water and leaves makes that he often uses blueish/greenish colors and he often searches for natural elements to create a foreground. Enjoying the process of photography itself, including the preparation, the shooting and the postproduction, is very important for Ogik. As he said: Photography is something you commit to because you really love it, because if it’s for money, you’d rather do something else. Ogik believes that an editing style is a great tool to distinguish yourself among photographers. However, he is convinced that originality also comes from the photo itself, and more precisely, the location. Though he would love to discover many other countries, he mentioned: I strongly believe in exploring places around where I live and in finding extraordinary beauty nearby, rather than having to go far to capture amazing places that everyone has already seen so often. We are sure that Ogik's talent will lead him to wonderful experiences and projects. To share such journey with him, makes us feel super proud. So for us, it's a great pleasure to welcome him to Nomadict's Talent Pool! Do you want to know where to go to shoot mountains and waterfalls in Indonesia and read some more photography tips from Ogik? You can read the full interview by visiting the link in the bio! Special greetings to @ogik_jatmiko! 🤗 @nomadict

Do what you love and love what you do! With @lucabeniniphotography / We asked Luca: Imagine yourself at the beginning of your carrer, what four pieces of advice would you give to yourself? One of the things he mentioned was the following: "Do what you love and love what you do; money doesn't make you happy." This sentence may be a cliché, but it is in fact so true: Measures of wealth such as income are commonly considered to be objective assessments of environmental circumstances, making direct contributions to happiness or life satisfaction. Indeed, income generates opportunities for individuals to select courses of action that improve well-being. This leads to the presumption that there is a direct causal link between wealth and well-being. So, a higher income increases our potential to generate resources in order to create a satisfying life. Nevertheless, there is substantial evidence that the link between higher income and life satisfaction is not direct. Life satisfaction improves only slightly relative to increases in income in wealthy societies. Also, increases in individual income are only associated with rises in individual well-being when the income increases are slow and steady, hinting that expectations and perceptions about income may be involved in the connection between income and well-being. Researchers also suggest that causation may flow in both directions: Higher life satisfaction contributes to higher income as well, and a disposition towards optimism and positive affect may contribute to a positive overall evaluation of life and particular life circumstances. In addition, the materialism associated with valuing higher income may reduce life satisfaction, thus offsetting the positive effects of receiving a higher income. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the economic circumstances important for life satisfaction may consist of psychological perceptions about financial matters rather than the actual financial matters themselves. Instead of working towards instant wealth, focusing on creating a life rich in satisfying experiences inside and outside of work may be the fastest path towards life satisfaction and long term wealth! @nomadict

Presenting @mellsva Limited Edition! @Nomadict: Giedra recently shared her story with us, telling us about how her three passions have come together. As a child she was always in the forests, playing with her dog, reading the signs of nature and dreaming about having wings. Nowadays she is amazed by the bird-eye views that a drone provides, which results in stunning photographs. @mellsva: People often think that I live in a country of constant, never-ending fog. Well, I wish! :) My country is flat and often windy. I literally have to hunt for that perfect, photogenic fog you see in my pictures. Even the higher humidity and large temperature difference between day and night in Autumn doesn’t guarantee I’ll wake up with a misty morning. As you may know, drone photography has its specifics. You have zero visibility flying in a super-dense fog (the one that lingers from the ground to up to 100-200m high). On the other hand, sparse and transparent, ground gliding fog literally disappears from the monitor once you get your drone up to the air. Nicely layered and thick fog, hovering right below the treetops, it is kind of rare here. This means that most of the time I come back home without that perfect picture, or I play a trick and treat game with light and altitude, just like in this picture. The fog that day was dim: good enough to capture with the regular camera from the ground, but not enough for the drone. Once you raise a drone up in the air and look down, this kind of fog seems invisible; you can’t catch a single white stream. Nevertheless, if you go down to only 20-30 m altitude and set your camera up at 30-40 degrees toward the direct sun, dim and hard to catch fog turns into gold and all the subjects in front of the camera get long and deep shadows. These kind of pictures do not require much editing. The only problem could be a burned sunspot in the sky. To solve this, you can use a stronger ND PL filter while shooting or recover the burned place with your editing software. @nomadict: We don’t know about you, but we have spent quite some time contemplating this shot! This is one of Giedra's favourite photos and is now available in our art gallery!

New interview! Starring, @mcgee - Brought to you via nomadict.org / Danny McGee is a talented photographer and videographer based in Colorado. He basically grew up being outdoors, as he was hiking, fishing or camping with his family. As he got older, he felt life was leading him to University, getting a degree and a "normal" job. As he said: I gave University a chance for a year, but the whole travel photography thing was always itching in the back of mi mind. Around the same time booked a solo backpacking trip to Iceland, and it was on that trip that I really decided that this is what I want to spend my life doing. Danny started learning about photography and videography by just getting outside, watching hundreds of YouTube tutorials, keeping photographing without giving up... And crashing a bunch of drones. Being inspired by work of Chris Burkard, Kylor Melton and Sam Potter, Danny now really has found his own style; doing as much as possible with the camera and keeping the edits pretty simple. He now wants to focus on meaningful story driven content and thinks about putting together a video about climate change in Greenland. His favorite photos aren’t necessarily his best ones, but the ones that represent cool moments that he experienced. Though he plans his travels around specific spots, he always goes on adventure to find the off the road beauty and surprises. About a trip to Myanmar, he said: I’m not sure how far I walked but eventually I found this monastery on the side of the road and went in to check it out. Being a 6’2” white dude, soon the entire monastery was out of their houses just looking at me. Do you want to know what happened in the monastery? Are you curious to know about his cultural experience of eagle hunting in Mongolia or do you want to learn from his four tips to boost your professional career as photographer? You can now read Danny's interview visiting the link in the Bio! Whether you are a traveler or a photographer, this interview is a must read! Special greetings to @mcgee! This highlight has been brought to you via nomadict.org If you also want to be featured you can follow us, tag us or use #nomadict in your posts! @nomadict

"Walking my ancestors path!" With @jonathanvitblom / “My name is Jonathan Vitblom. I was born in Kiruna, Sweden and grew up in the Swedish Lapland where my family has been living for many generations as Samis. By the way, the Sami people are indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk Oblast of Russia for instance. As a Sami myself, I have been immersed in the woods, herding reindeer and walking the same paths my ancestors did for almost all my life. Because of this, I am pretty certain that this is where my love for nature comes from. Travelling is something that came later in life, when my friends and I started travelling to the alps to go skiing. After these few travels I got hooked and I just wanted to see more of this beautiful world and get the chance to capture still moments with my camera. Every now and then, I look back at the pictures I took of my first travels. Looking at these old memories always gives me a warm and happy feeling inside. As of now, I’m creating new memories in South Carolina by taking pictures of the wonderful autumn season. There’s just something about the changing colors of the leaves that keeps my mind wandering. Overall, photography has helped me become the person that I am today and I am so grateful for it. It has helped me not be so “Swedish” by staying by myself too much; now I approach people and talk with them just about anything. Photography even helped me meet my Puerto Rican girlfriend, who is basically the opposite of me; she is talkative and spontaneous and I love it because she makes me laugh. I am sure photography is going to bring me more in the future; I see myself owning a photography studio in Sweden and growing my small business into a full-time job, and with that, I hope to have a family that I can take with me on my crazy adventures, teach them how to fish and enjoy the simple life by a warm fire in the woods.” Special greetings to @jonathanvitblom! 🤗 @nomadict

While I don't rush when traveling, I do run to enjoy life to the fullest! With @ivnovish / “I remember always sneaking into my parent's bedroom when I was a little, grabbing one of those disposable cameras, hoping there were still some shots left to take. In my teen years I started to get more into photography, using a point and shoot camera until my 17th when I finally got a DSLR. Compared to photography, my passion for traveling came a little late. When I went on a cruise to the Mexican riviera with my parents and family for New Years, I discovered that I enjoyed going to a new place. I didn’t do much with this right afterwards, but later on I got this need of going somewhere new again and decided to backpack through Europe. Ever since I feel this passion and desire to travel. You can imagine that, since I started traveling, photography has become a bigger part of my life as well. I got to know many people because of photography; I used to shoot for local bands at local venues which opened a new circle of friends and acquaintances. With traveling, I got to step out of my comfort zone and talk to random strangers, ask them to pose for my pictures which is one of the many challenges I face as a solo traveler. Photography made me discover hiking, trekking, and more recently mountaineering. As a landscape photographer, I feel doing those things are a must but I've learned to love doing them. It's a very self-rewarding feeling to go off the beaten path, getting those shots and getting to live that experience. I would go back to every moment of reaching a destination and having that feeling of "I can't believe I'm here!" while having a big smile. Hopefully in the future I'll be doing photography full time and working with brands while traveling; you know, the ultimate goal. If not, I still see myself traveling doing what I enjoy the most, adventuring in new places and taking photos. We only have one chance to live the life we always wanted. While I don't rush when traveling, I do run to enjoy life to the fullest!" Special greetings to @ivnovish! @nomadict: So tell us nomads! What location gave you the biggest smile?! 🤔🤠

Mount Bromo, Indonesia’s most famous volcano! With @rikidwi_k - Best of the week 43 at #nomadict / Bromine is the third-lightest halogen and is a humming red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a similarly colored gas. Its name was derived from the Ancient Greek βρῶμος (“stench"), and makes reference to its sharp and disagreeable smell. Interestingly, Bromo is a prefix referring to the element Bromine. Does this means that this marvelous volcano was named after the chemical element Bromine? Not really! Derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma - the Hindu creator god - Bromo was the given name to this mountain. Although very few temples dedicated to him exist in India, Brahma is considered by many the highest and holiest of Gods. As such, Bromo is a holy mountain for the Hindu people of Indonesia. Both concepts, Brahma (creator god) and Bromo (from Bromine), describe pretty well volcanoes in general. On one hand, volcanoes can create new land because of the erupting lava. On the other hand, when volcanoes erupt they can spew massive amounts of bromine - which as we mentioned, has a disagreeable smell. So there you go! Mount Bromo belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. Declared a national park in 1982, Tengger Semeru is the only conservation area in Indonesia that has a sand sea across which is the caldera of an ancient volcano (Tengger). This unique feature covers a total area of 5,250 hectares at an altitude of about 2,100 metres (6,900 ft). In addition, the massif also contains the highest mountain in Java, Mount Semeru (3,676 m), four lakes and 50 rivers. Even if Mount Bromo is not the highest peak of the massif, it is the most well known. The picturesque characteristics of the volcano attract visitors from all over the world and to this day, it is also probably one of the most photographed craters in the world! Congratulations @rikidwi_k! Now you have access to the final prize, $500 in cash! If you also want to participate in our weekly contest, you can follow us, tag us our use #nomadict in your posts! 😊 @nomadict

Friendships that change your life! With @lucabeniniphotography / “I traveled a lot with my parents since I was very young and I used to take pictures with my mom’s camera. It was very hard to find good compositions when it’s not a digital camera and it didn’t go very well. Then I had a period in which I didn’t pay much attention to photography, until I met Rene, my ‘photography friend’, about 10 years ago. We started to explore around our homes and photograph sunsets, trees and piers, going every day a little bit further from home. Now, about six years later, I have traveled to many places in the world, won several photography awards and I am leading photography tours. Friendships can certainly change our lives! Today I enjoy photography because it allows me to interpret the landscape in a different way. We have the geographical landscape, which can be seen by everyone. But we also have the conceptual and imaginary one that only the soul can understand: we can feel the landscape and become part of it. Our life is based on landscapes; the landscape is our home. It is like a book: the moment when we are reading it and then get the impression that it’s the book that is reading us. The book tells us something about us, something we had forgotten, something ancestral, magical. This is also what happens when you listen to a song, when you finally really listen to it and it seems written for you. Though the song existed for a long time, it wasn’t the right time or you were too busy to really understand it. It’s all a matter of time; many things already exist, but they wait. Or we wait. ‘Becoming part’ means being on time. It means that you are in the place where you should be, not for fame or for money, but to be able to listen to what the world is whispering to you, to free yourself from all those things that actually don’t matter, and to connect to nature, to the core, to that what really matters.” You can now read the full interview with @lucabeniniphotography visiting the link in the Bio! @nomadict

Breaking the moulds! With @an_aussie_goes_travelling / “My father had a collection of old cameras and always enjoyed photography as a hobby. This influenced me; growing up I knew exactly that I wanted to be a photographer. I went to the Photography Studies College in Melbourne and focused on food and nature. 20 years later, I’m a food and travel photographer. Even though I completed this study, I look to obtain knowledge constantly from all different mediums: YouTube videos, online tutorials, etc. But most importantly, I reach out to other photographers. There is a lovely culture of sharing; supportive photographers on IG will often let you know their camera settings for a shot, a processing technique or a plug-in program to try. I recently travelled to Lofoten for a photoshoot where l engaged Cody Duncan as my guide. I found it quite extraordinary to travel from Australia to the Arctic Circle in search of epic landscapes. Pushing myself physically and mentally in this environment to get the shots was a massive accomplishment. I can’t sit back and miss out on the adventures. I am a strong, capable, independent woman. I have become the person I always wanted to be. I am a single mother of two amazing kids, so it is my aim to be the best role model I can. I bring them news and images of the world they have yet to discover and I show them what’s possible if you have a dream, if you are active and build your skills to achieve what you want. Earlier this year a friend of mine sent me a YouTube video of a photographer hiking during the night, battling through the obstacles all for that elusive sunrise shot. He said to me, “I don’t know if you realise how hard landscape photography is Kate…it’s not for everyone.” (probably hinting that I should stick to food photography). But it had the opposite effect. From then on I got stronger and fitter, bought a headlamp and started seeking out locations to shoot. My instagram feed is full of amazing rugged bearded male photographers shooting remote landscapes, and beautiful colourful food photography photographed predominantly by women. Come on guys, let’s break the mould!” Special greetings to @an_aussie_goes_travelling! @nomadict

"Photography forces me to leap when fear tells me to stay put!" With @rebeccaadnell / “It’s hard to remember exactly when photography became a part of my life. In a way I guess it’s always been there - it’s a passion I grew up with; going from a kid to a teenager and then eventually into adulthood; it’s the one thing that has always been certain. Even during my years of doubting everything I never doubted my love for photography. I’m not a great talker - I’ve always preferred to stay quiet in the background and observe my surroundings, and photography allows me to interpret what I see and it gives me room to explore my creativity in my own way. Ever since I was born I’ve spent holidays in the Swedish mountains. My family owns a cabin located in the middle of the nowhere with no running water and no electricity. While my friends were sunbathing on a beach during summer breaks, I was roaming the deep forests in my home country. I truly believe that this place shaped me into who I am today, and to be disconnected from the rest of the world as we are up there has given me the chance to see the world in a different perspective. This place is also the foundation of my inspiration when it comes to photography and my love for nature. Photography is a way for me to expand my creativity and it forces me to leap when fear tells me to stay put. My passion for traveling and photography go hand in hand. I have a very curious mind and a burning desire to visit and explore new places. When I step out onto a new location for the first time is when I feel most comfortable with myself. I want people to look at my photos and dare to dream a little. I want them to be inspired to get out there and chase whatever they want to do in life, because I spent so much time being too afraid. I want to encourage people to explore their surroundings, and by doing that I have this hope that people will appreciate the beauty of our planet and help to keep it that way!" Special greetings to @rebeccaadnell! 🤗 If you also want to be featured you can follow us, tag us, or use #nomadict in your posts! @nomadict

4 essential tips to improve your editing skills! With @sjoerdbracke / "This place is literally 15 minutes from my house and I never knew it looked like this from above! The perspective of a drone is in my opinion really interesting, it makes you realize you don't always have to travel far to get a unique photo...Anyway, here are 4 of my essential editing tips! 1. Master the tone curve to find the right balance. After I took the first shot of this series, I uploaded it to my Adobe Lightroom Mobile. Many people don't believe me when I say 90% of my photos are edited on my phone! For this one I started with adjusting the Tone Curve to get my contrasts and highlights the way I like, and next I edited the colors and tried to match them to my feed. It's difficult to stick to reality as much as possible with your edit and adjust colors enough to match them with other photos. It's something I'm still struggling with. When you travel to different kind of destinations such as beaches, mountains, or jungles finding the right balance can be challenging. Yet, the effort is completely worth it. 2. Try new things. Is there a specific color I stick to? Not really. I think I'm constantly changing my style. Something I use a lot are the selective edits. In this photo it's less 'needed' but I normally use it to lead the eye to the main subject of the photo. I often darken the uninteresting parts of the photo and brighten up the things that matter. 3. Let it rest. In the end, this photo wasn't too difficult to edit. It took me about 10 minutes to finalize it. Most of the times I let it rest for a day and have a look at it the next morning. If I'm still happy with how it turned out, I keep it that way! 4. Ask for other people's opinion and never stop practicing. Sometimes I ask friends about their opinion but I think editing photos is mostly about 'taste/style' and not about good or wrong. And still, I'm sometimes unhappy with my edits after having posted them, or can't figure out how to edit a certain picture. I'm still learning and evolving everyday! And if you think you're not, just check edits from a year ago and re-edit them. I'm sure you got better at it!" 🤗 @nomadict

Dàjiā hǎo! Time to update you about Taiwan! Remember we did the research?! With @rkrkrk / Happy to see that most of you disagree (78%) that Taiwan is part of China and thus similar. To clarify, Taiwan - Republic of China - got independent from mainland China in 1949, but there are still discussions about the island’s status. One China or Two China’s? Beijing and Taipei don’t really agree, but now they are separated for more than a century and a growing number of Taiwanese feel they deserve the right to continue a separate existence. Although Taiwan is inhabited by a Han Chinese majority, 55% of them identifies themselves as exclusively Taiwanese and just 4% consider themselves only Chinese. Anyway, what are the actual differences? Well, Taiwan has a messy but rich history of invasion, occupation, colonization, refuge, and intermarriage, which all have influenced Taiwan today. First of all, Taiwan is a newborn democracy, while China is still a dictatorship - which indicates that Taiwan might be more ‘free’ talking about freedom of speech, media usage, etc. which affects people’s behavior and therefore its culture. We don’t talk about negative or positive, but that it creates diversity between the two cultures is obvious. Also, their passport has more visa free accesses than Mainland China’s. Furthermore, Taiwan seems to be more traditional, in their language (in China they use simplified Chinese, while Taiwan has maintained the traditional characters) but also in religion and values. Most of you mentioned that Taiwan is mostly known for... Food! It can be delicious, but Taiwan is known for more things! Off course for magnificent beaches, but also for temples, safety, high developed technology and mountains. Taiwan also features volcanic mountains, tablelands, coastal plains and several islands in the South China Sea. Actually, about 20 percent of the nation’s land area is protected! Unfortunate is that the whole “two China” policy means that Taiwan can’t get UNESCO World Heritage status (rejected by China) for any of its amazing natural scenery or centuries-old monuments. If you want to know more about our research, you can read the article at nomadict.org! @nomadict

Every single shot carries a story behind! With @nicolo_pizzulin / “I’m Nicolò Pizzulin, I’m 21 and I live in the north of Italy, between Slovenia, Austria and the Dolomites. I practically grew up close to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, without realizing it. It wasn't until the age of 18 that I discovered photography, almost by accident, and I was immediately enchanted. I believe passion is born at a certain moment, it is an idea, an unclear vision, almost “out of focus”. But then, almost immediately it reveals itself just like a rarefied landscape, hidden by the fog. A ray of sunshine makes the difference, making it clear and visible, uncovering all its beauty and complexity. The fog turned into the sun for me and photography has become a necessity. I started shooting with my phone, I photographed everything, every sunset, every flower, every animal... I needed to capture the world, I needed to find myself. I immediately understood that this is my thing, and living out of photography is a goal for me to reach. Today, four years later, photography is still the same for me: a way to escape from everyday life and do what I really want to do. A way to understand what life is and live it without compromises. For some people it is difficult to understand why a person wakes up at one o’clock at night, crosses 400 km in a day only to take some pictures of a sunrise, and then return home. I would say that they don’t understand what it feels like when the sky lightens up and the landscapes around you become alive. And you are there, alone or with some good friends, to capture the best frame. Maybe it’s a feeling only photographers can understand, a feeling that should be lived and shared with the world and can’t be explained in a book. We are the result of every experience we have lived, even the smallest and seemingly insignificant ones have made us who we are. For this reason, if I could, I would live everything again; all places, all people… Every single shot carries a story behind. Stories that I want and try to convey to people, to make them participate and think about the beauty that surrounds them." Special greetings to @nicolo_pizzulin!🤗 @nomadict

Quitting your job to pursue your passion is risky. Yet, it is probably the most thrilling and inspiring path! With @he.feels.forest / "My name is Quentin Karas, I am 24 years old and I live in France. I have been working as a mechanic and after-sales agent for a while, but I didn't feel very comfortable in these positions. I was missing something, a feeling that many of you may recognize. Photography is something I have always loved doing, so one year ago I just decided to stop my work to get 200% into photography. I have been learning and practicing every day in order to improve, photographing places, trying out things. There are so many great photographers out there to get inspiration from, and thanks to technology we can develop and grow at a super fast pace. Nowadays I am working on setting up my company and establishing myself in the photography world. I feel like I have found my thing and I intend to live that way. Photography helps me in life and in processing and expressing my emotions. It gave me more confidence. Landscape photography specifically, inspires me enormously. Mountains and forests are my favorite, it is just magnificent to wander around there and feel how the environment affects me. Nature has a lot to offer us, to show us, and I love the dynamics of the landscapes. That is also what I enjoy so much in photography; I can always show something with my photos, something more than the image itself. I can convey an emotion, an atmosphere, my vision of photography and nature. I spend a lot of time editing my photos to create the mood I am looking for, the mood that matches my feeling and the emotion I want to share through the photograph. By lowering the highlights I can create this mystic and gloomy atmosphere that you see in many of my photos. I think this is my style, I just love it. Then, after shooting and editing my photos, I like sharing them as well. People can discover the world through my photos, and this is exactly why I believe social media is a great source; it allows us to learn about other things, things further away from us, things we otherwise may never discover." Special greetings to @he.feels.forest! #nomadict @nomadict